Title: November 9, 2005
Maxine de Villefranche is an attorney and civil general practitioner with 13 years of experience. She operates her law practice from her new office in town, as well her Lancaster satellite office. She will answer legal questions posed to her by the readers, to the best of her abilities. Please forward your questions to maxinedev@msn.com or fax them to (661)825-8880.
Q. How does one go about researching property lines and where easement/utility roads run? I believe there is an easement that runs behind my home. A new development of homes is going up soon, and the developer is going to build a home right behind my house without allowing the easement space between properties. On top of everything, the house planned will be a two-story house. Isn’t that illegal?
A. It depends. You have a choice of places to go to find out where the property lines are located or whether or not there is an easement running behind your house. You can hire a surveyor or you can have a title company prepare a preliminary report. You can also go to Kern County Engineering Department in Bakersfield and look at the plat maps of the entire Kern County. Lastly, you can go to the planning department right here at Tehachapi City Hall. The developer may have paid money to build over the easement or the easement may have been abandoned. There are a million reasons why this house may be built where you think it should not be built. If it is infringing upon your privacy, it is up to you to complain about it to the city planning commission. However, it may be too late to stop it.
Q. What is the difference between a living will and a living trust?
A. There is a major difference. A Living Will is a document that tells health workers that you do or do not want extraordinary efforts to be made to save your life or to maintain you alive, no matter your health condition. It makes your last wishes known as to how you want your dignity to be respected at death and that you do not want your life to be extended if the quality of your life is nonexistent. If you have a Will and your assets are worth more than $100,000, you Will must go through Probate court. A Living Trust is a legal scheme to avoid Probate court. Your assets are transferred into the Living Trust, in other words, the trust becomes the owner of your assets. The trust assets are managed by a Trustee. Often the trustee is the same person as the Trustor. As long as the Trustor is alive, the terms of the trust can be changed. Upon the death of the Trustor, a Successor Trustee takes over and distributes the assets to the beneficiaries according to the terms of the trust. It is all perfectly legal and far more efficient than the Probate Court.
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